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"Weird Al" Yankovic
thumb|300px|Weird Al and [[Fozzie Bear (1984).]] thumb|300px|Weird Al and [[Elmo walk-arounds|Elmo backstage at Sesame Street Live at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles (2005).]] Al Yankovic (b. 1959), also known as "Weird Al" Yankovic, is a veteran comedy musician and acclaimed parody artist. With over twelve albums, a full career spanning more than 23 years, and three Grammy awards, Yankovic is one of the best-known comedic musical performers in the world. In total, Al has sold more than 13 million albums, making him the biggest-selling comedy artist in music history. Yankovic was the subject of a feature article, and cover line, in Muppet Magazine issue 8. In the article, titled "Wocka, Wocka! It's Weird Al Yankovic!", Yankovic was interviewed by fellow comedy legend Fozzie Bear. In the article Yankovic talks about his start in performing, breaking into the music industry and his view on his success. Fozzie Bear states that his favorite of Yankovic's parody is "Eat It" (a parody of Michael Jackson's "Beat It"). The article, however, incorrectly referred to Yankovic's song "My Bologna" as "My Baloney!". The article was one of the selected articles later republished in the book The Best of Muppet Magazine. A clip from Yankovic's 1984 music video for his song "Eat It" was featured in an episode of Muppet Babies. The episode credits however misspelled Yankovic's name as "Wierd Al" instead of "Weird Al". In 1994 Yankovic's song "Bedrock Anthem" (a parody of two Red Hot Chili Pepper's songs) was featured on the soundtrack for The Flintstones feature film, which featured characters and effect by the Jim Henson Creature Shop. Although the song not heard in the film, the song was featured on the album soundtrack, as well as Yankovic's album "Alapalooza". As a connoisseur of pop-culture, "Weird Al" has declared his inner-Muppet inclinations on several occasions - including a 1999 LAUNCH.com chat: ::Beavinator1: Al, if you were one of the Muppets which one would you be? ::"Weird Al": LOL. I suppose Beaker. Muppet Mentions Yankovic's 1985 song "Yoda", a parody of "Lola" by the Kinks about the Star Wars character Yoda, features a minor Muppet mention: "Weird Al"'s 1999 promotional television special "ALTV" on MTV featured an Al News segment where Yankovic announed the long-winded title of Fiona Apple's new CD. The fictional album title, included a reference to Sesame Street's classic song "C is for Cookie". Yankvoic's 2003 song Couch Potato, a parody of Eminem's Lose Yourself, features a reference to The Muppet Show in the lyrics: Connections Artists Parodied: *"Livin' on the Edge" by Aerosmith was parodied with "Livin' in the Fridge" (1993) *"I Want it That Way" by Backstreet Boys was parodied with "Ebay" (2002) *"You're Beautiful" by James Blunt was parodied with "You're Pitiful" (2006) *"Gangsta's Paradise" by Coolio was parodied with "Amish Paradise" (1996) *"She Drives Me Crazy" by Fine Young Cannibals was the parodied with "She Drives Like Crazy" (1989) *"Rico Suave" by Gerardo was parodied with "Taco Grande" (1992) *"I Got My Mind Set on You" by George Harrison was parodied with "This Song is Just Six Word Long" (1988) *"Bad" by Michael Jackson was parodied with "Fat" (1988) *"Beat It" by Michael Jackson was parodied with "Eat It" (1984) *"Ruthless People" by Mick Jagger was parodied with "Toothless People" (1986) *"Piano Man" by Billy Joel was parodied with "Ode to a Superhero" (2002) *"Girls Just Want to Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper with the parodied with "Girls Just Want to Have Lunch" (1985) *"Stand" by R.E.M.'s was the parodied with "Spam" (1989) Song Subjects: *''Forrest Gump'' was the subject of Yankovic's song and music video "Gump" (1996) *George of the Jungle was the subject of Yankovic's song "George of the Jungle" (1985) *''The Phantom Menace'' was the subject of Yankovic's song "The Saga Begins" (1999) * Spider-Man was the subject of Yankovic's song "Ode to a Superhero" (2002) *The Star Wars character Yoda was the subject of Yankovic's song "Yoda" (1985) *The Flintstones was the subject of Yankovic's song and music video "Bedrock Anthem" (1993) Celebrities: *Donny Osmond appeared in Yankovic's "White and Nerdy" music video (2006) *Seth Green appeared in Yankovic's "White and Nerdy" music video (2006) *Alex Trebek appeared on The Weird Al Show (1997) *Dick Clark appeared on The Weird Al Show (1997) *Michael McKean appeared on The Weird Al Show (1997) *Fred Willard appeared on "The Weird Al Show (1997) *Gilbert Gottfried appeared on The Weird Al Show (1997) *Stan Freberg was a cast member of The Weird Al Show (1997) *Don Pardo appeared on Yankovic's song "I Lost on Jeopardy" (1984) *The Simpsons appeared on Yankovic's song "Phony Calls" (1996) *Florence Henderson appeared in Yankovic's "Amish Paradise" music video (1996) *Michael Richards co-starred in Yankovic's film UHF (1989) *Gedde Watanabe played Kuni in Yankovic's film UHF (1989) and on The Weird Al Show (1997) *Frankie Yankovic (no relation) co-stared in "Weird Al's Guide to the Grammys" television special (1986) External Links *Official Site *Official MySpace *IMDb Yankovic, Al Yankovic, Al Yankovic, Al